SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA baseball team upset the No. 10 ranked East Carolina Pirates, 4-2, to open American Athletic Conference action on Friday night at Roadrunner Field.
QUICK HITS
· Robert Orloski (3-2) earned the win, pitching six innings of one-run ball while striking out two batters.
· Ruger Riojas picked up his second save of the season, picking up four strikeouts in three innings on the mound.
· Three Roadrunners led the team with two hits, including Mason Lytle, Alexander Olivo and Matt King.
· It was a game of small ball as zero of the combined 19 hits on the night were extra-base hits.
· UTSA improved to an 11-11 overall record (1-0 in American Athletic Conference play), while No. 10 East Carolina fell to a 15-5 record (0-1 in conference action).
BREAKDOWN OF THE GAME
Orloski started the game with a quick 1-2-3 first inning, recording two groundouts and a strikeout. ECU’s starter Trey Yesavage forced a groundout to start the bottom of the frame, before three consecutive singles by the Roadrunners opened up scoring.
Lytle started things off with a single up the middle, before another single by Olivo advanced him to third. Then, a single through the left side by King drove home Lytle to give UTSA an early 1-0 advantage.
Despite allowing a couple singles in the second, Orloski escaped the inning unscathed. Another few Pirates got on board in the third via two singles, a fielder’s choice and a walk, but the freshman again battled through it to put another zero on the board.
In the bottom of the third, a few singles and some sacrifice bunts helped UTSA tack on three more runs. Lytle opened up the frame with a single through the left side, before Olivo won a 3-2 count for a walk. After a sacrifice bunt advanced Lytle to third and Olivo to second, a couple singles by Broc Parmer and James Taussig scored the two leading runners. Next up, a sacrifice bunt by Tye Odom brought home the third run of the game to extend UTSA’s advantage to 4-0.
The fourth frame went three up, three down on both sides of the inning. Each team got a couple of runners on the bases in the fifth but neither scored as a couple more zeros were added to the scoreboard.
The Pirates scored their first run of the game in the sixth as a RBI single made the score 4-1, still in favor of UTSA. After both Riojas and ECU pitcher Ethan Norby faced the minimum in the seventh, the Pirates added another run in the eighth on an RBI single which cut the Roadrunners’ lead to 4-2.
Taking a two-run advantage to the final frame, the Roadrunners worked to seal the deal. Riojas forced a groundout for the first out, using only two pitches in that at-bat. Then, he battled through a 3-2 count and won it as he got the Pirates’ leadoff batter down on a swinging strikeout. Then, Riojas forced a flyout to close out the game and lead UTSA to a 4-2 win over No. 10 East Carolina to open up the series and conference play.
ON DECK
The Roadrunners and Pirates continue the conference series on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Roadrunner Field.
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